New Delhi: The Mangaluru City Corporation will soon distribute 2 free cloth bags to every household in the city. This is aimed at curbing single use plastic in the city and thus keep the environment clean. The Corporation has already banned the use of plastic in the city and officials have warned that any shop found violating the ban, would risk losing its license.
Bags to be distributed in 60 wards: MCC
The MCC said that it would be distributing the cloth bags across all its 60 wards. This drive is expected to cost the civic body Rs 80 lakh. Officials said that the cloth bags are being produced by the Self Help Groups of the city.
Dakshina Kannada District Collector (DC) Darshan HV was quoted by the Times of India as saying that the distribution of cloth bags amongst the people was a soft measure in order to implement the plastic ban. Hard measures would be taken against violators, he added.
The DC confirmed that shops found selling goods in plastic bags, or even selling plastic bags would lose their license.
Need to stop manufacturing plastic: District Collector
The DC said that his team had identified some factories outside Mangaluru which are engaged in manufacturing single-use plastic. The state government has been notified regarding these units, he said.
Darshan believes that in order to completely ban single-use plastic from the city, there was a need to first stop its manufacturing. He said that the supply will reduce only if the public stops demanding these bags.
According to the DC, some shops are continuing to use plastic bags, despite repeated warnings. He said that the only way out now for the administration was to cancel the license of the violators.
Talking about the new cloth bags and its manufacturing, the DC said that the Corporation would invite bidding for the manufacturing of the bags. But he said that preference would be given to SHGs which use khadi in making the cloth bags. This he said, was to encourage both SHGs and women entrepreneurs and also promote khadi production.